In the past, fuel filter bodies have mainly been made of a metal substance. Consequently, any electrostatic charges that were made by the fuel passing through the filter media would merely be dissipated through the metallic casing or housing, which was grounded to the vehicle chassis.
In more recent years, some fuel filters have been constructed of electrically non-conductive material such as nylon. It was discovered that electrostatic charges build up on the inside of these non-conductive housings and that under certain circumstances, the charges built up to the point that there was arcing through the housing itself, which in extreme instances actually formed a hole through the housing which caused the housing to leak fuel. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,164,018; 5,164,879 and 5,076,920 all to Danowski et al propose to solve this buildup of electrostatic charges problem by putting stainless steel fibers in the housing itself and grounding the housing to the vehicle chassis. The problem has also been solved somewhat unwittingly by FIG. 3 of French Patent No. 1,541,025, published Oct. 4, 1969, wherein metallic materials were incorporated into filters for fuels for the purpose of dissipating heat.
The prior art consequently allows the problem to occur and then shows a way to alleviate the problem of electrostatic buildup of charges in a fuel filter housing. Consequently, there is a need for a solution to this problem which prevents the generation of such electrostatic charges within a fuel filter, instead of allowing the charges to generate and then to provide a path to ground as in prior art solutions.